Cerf turns up at Google

Who better to evangelize the Internet than one of the technologists behind the global network? That’s the thinking behind Google’s recruiting of tech pioneer Vint Cerf to be “chief Internet evangelist.”

Just having Cerf on the Google payroll will serve to boost the search company’s already formidable technological credibility. Besides boosting the brand, the company says Cerf will help “build network infrastructure, architectures, systems and standards for the next generation of Internet applications.”

“We’re still in the Internet’s early innings,” said Cerf in the Google press release announcing his new gig. “This medium will enjoy wider-spread use than television, radio or phones, and will ultimately expand beyond planet Earth.”

Cerf will continue as chairman of ICANN and will also proceed with work on NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab’s Interplanetary Network, which aims to extend the Internet into outer space. Far out.

UPDATE: Cerf’s post on the Google Blog.